Babel (2012)

Babel is the second studio album by British folk rock band Mumford & Sons, released on 21 September 2012, by Island Records. As with their debut album, Sigh No More (2009), the album was produced by Markus Dravs. The vinyl LP version of the record was pressed by United Record Pressing in Nashville, Tennessee.

Upon its release, Babel received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album debuted at number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, becoming the fastest-selling album of 2012 in the UK, with over 159,000 copies sold in its first week, and 600,000 first week copies in the US. Babel won Album of the Year at the 55th Grammy Awards.

Background

In late 2010, Mumford & Sons had already begun road-testing new material that they had been working on. Most of these songs, including "Broken Crown" and "Below My Feet", had already been played live on numerous occasions before the album's release. "Not With Haste" was a re-written version of the song "Learn Me Right" which they had performed with Birdy for the soundtrack of the film Brave. Mumford & Sons decided not to change their sound on Babel, which is the follow-up to 2009's highly successful Sigh No More, which elevated them to international fame. They did, however, admit that they purposely took their time to perfect the sound that they had already developed.

On Monday, 16 July 2012 the band's official website announced that their new album Babel would be released in the UK on 24 September, and the following day in the US. A final track list and album art were also revealed, as well as a 30-second promo. Babel was made available for preorder on the band's official website on Monday, 23 July, when it was announced that the album would also be released as a vinyl LP and a deluxe edition with additional tracks.

Singles

The album's official lead single is "I Will Wait". The band premiered the song on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show on 7 August 2012. On 29 August 2012, Mumford & Sons recorded their live performance of "I Will Wait" at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. The performance was released on 9 September as the band's official video for the song.

The album's second single is "Lover of the Light". The music video was released on 7 November and stars actor Idris Elba who also directed the short film. The song was officially released on 3 December 2012.

The third single from the album is "Whispers in the Dark". The music video premiered on 11 March 2013.

The title-track "Babel" is their fourth single off the album. It has already made it into the BBC Radio 1 Playlist's A list.

A music video for the song "Hopeless Wanderer" premiered on 4 August 2013. Directed by Sam Jones, the video features Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman, Ed Helms and Will Forte as Marcus Mumford, Winston Marshall, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane, respectively. The video was released on both Vevo and YouTube; within less than four days on the latter site, the video already had over 3 million views.

Critical reception

Babel received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 63, based on 33 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Mojo magazine found it to be "more than just a decent nu-folk album," but also "a great pop album". Clash called it a "rip-roaring record" with catchy hooks and "not much depth," but "some good tunes". Davis Inman of The A.V. Club found the entire album "sonically impeccable", even though Mumford's imagery seems "like go-to words in a lazy songwriter's starved lexicon." Q called it an "ultimately comfortable listening, befitting folk sounds of a resolutely un-freak variety." Melissa Maerz of Entertainment Weekly viewed that the music will convince listeners who cannot appreciate "lyrics this earnest", as the band "has mastered the emotional gut-punch of quiet/loud dynamics". Kelly O'Brien of State praised the band's "unrestrained ardour and zealous poetry", and wrote that they "manage to play loudly and boisterously, without ever making the descent into cacophony." Will Hermes of Rolling Stone cited the band's lyrics as the album's defining characteristic, writing that they use "church flavor" to "supersize and complicate love songs." Magnet magazine found Babel to be a "more subtle and accomplished album" than Sigh No More.